Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) accompany women and children as they wait in a field after fleeing the Islamic State (IS) group's last holdout of Baghouz in Syria's northern Deir Ezzor province Thursday. U.S.-backed Syrian forces tried to negotiate the release of civilians still trapped in the Islamic State group's last redoubt, as a car bombing killed 20 people near their main base. | AFP-JIJI

BEIRUT - A car bomb Thursday killed oil workers and fighters from a US-backed force battling the Islamic State group in east Syria, the Kurdish-led alliance said, with a monitor putting the death toll at 20.

A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the attack killed mostly oil workers, as well as fighters in the village of Shheel close to an oil field acting as a base for the anti-IS force.